Marc Danel masterclass

Marc Danel masterclass

Dmitri Shostakovich

In this Masterclass Marc Danel works with the Cheng Quartet from Taïwan on Shostakovitch 9th quartet.

Written in 1964, this five mouvements piece is, as every quartet by Shostakovitch, closely related to his personal life.
It is dedicated to his third wife, Irina Antonovna, who is still alive and very active to promote his music.

The first mouvement is a sort of introduction in a caracter of expectance, it has two slow mouvements, the second and the fourth, about which Valentin Berlinsky, cellist of the Borodin Quartet said:
"the second mouvement is for the mankind, the fourth for God..."

The third is a quite typical active and a bit sarcastic scherzo, with a very typical mahlerian flavour.

The last mouvement is somehow the heart of the piece, extremely long and symphonic, finishing in a tragic crescendo

Marc's approach towards this piece by Shostakovitch is to combine passing the oral traditions we had the chance to get from both Borodin and Beethoven Quartets, the two quartets that worked the closest with the composer and trying to get the quartet to find their own voice.

This masterclass consists of 7 lessons.

How it works:

The course is a series of related video lessons, each structured around a specific topic or topics. By the end of this course, you will have developed a strong sense of direction in your daily study routine.

Weekly video lessons
After joining the course, you will be able to view a new video lesson weekly. Each video lesson consists of:

Examples that musically define the sound of the topic you are studying in each video.

A study routine section in which we first discuss how to study the specific topic of each lesson. We will then play several exercises specially written to show you how to structure your daily study routine.

Assignments that will help you consolidate and practice what you have learned in each video.

Weekly assignments
After each lesson, you will be asked to study, practice and then video record yourself playing an assignment which may consist of several exercises. When ready, you submit the video of your assignment. The process of having to record yourself every week, significantly helps to internalise the material discussed in this course - quickly and naturally.

Weekly feedback: This function is only available in the "course" mode.

Certificate: This function is only available in the "course" mode.

Content of this course:

Lesson 1 – Complete piece, Shostakovitch 9th quartet. 

Lesson 2 – Part 1 

Lesson 3 – Part 2 

Lesson 4 – Part 3 

Lesson 5 – Part 4 

Lesson 6 – Part 5 

Lesson 7 – Part 6